History of the Jews in Portugal

The history of the Jews in Portugal is directly related to Sephardi history, a Jewish ethnic division that represents communities who have originated in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, but also Morocco).

History

Jewish populations have existed on the area even before the country was established, back to the Roman era. With the fall of the Roman Empire, Jews were persecuted by the Visigoths and other European Christian kingdoms who controlled the area then on.

In 711, the Moorish invasion of the Iberian Peninsula was seen by the Jewish population as a liberation, and marked as the beginning of the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain and Portugal. There are records of Jews opening the doors of cities to the muslims. This brought the "real" Dark Agers to the Iberian Peninsula.

The Muslim kingdom of Al-andalus was one of the most advanced in the world of that era, based on slave labour from dihmis, the native Christians under islamic rule, It was a remarkable hedious place to Christian but not so much to Jewish populations. Trade flourished, and this was a time of intensive cultural and philosophical development that called Jews from all over Europe to settle in the Iberian Peninsula. Now, this is seen as the cause to the lack of development between Portugal and Spain in relation to the rest of Western Europe, once this countries had to fought a more than half century long war to reemerge from servitude.

Rapidly in the 7th century, the Christian kingdoms of the north mountainous areas of the Iberian Peninsula started a long military campaign against the Muslim invaders south, the Reconquista. The Jews, once they knew the Arab language, were used by the Portuguese as both spies and diplomats on this campaign that took centuries. This granted them respect from the Portuguese, although there were always prejudice from Christians from the north, against the Al-andalus Sephardi Jews. Even though, Jewish families kept their lands, houses, vineyards and businesses through the new Christian era.

Until the 15th century, Jews occupied prominent places in Portuguese political and economical life. They also had an active role in the Portuguese culture, and they kept their reputation of diplomats and merchants. By this time, Lisbon, Évora and Belmonte were home to important Jewish communities. Then, in 1497, under the pressure of newly born Spanish State, the Church and also the Portuguese people who saw the Jews as opressors, Manuel I of Portugal passed a decree demanding all the Jews to convert to Christianity, or to leave the country. Hard times followed for the Portuguese Jews, with the massacre of 5.000 individuals in Lisbon, 1506, and the later and even more relevant establishment of the Portuguese Inquisition in 1536.

Many Portuguese Jews, dozens of thousands, left the country to Amsterdam, Thessaloniki, Constantinople, France, Morocco, Brazil, Curaçao and the Antilles. All of these places flourished with the arrival of the Portuguese Jews, who left lasting cultural effects that can be noticed today, like the use of the Ladino language by some Jewish communities in Turkey, or the Portuguese based dialects of the Antilles.

But many Jews decided to stay in Portugal. A significant number converted to Christianity as a mere formality, practicing their Jewish faith in secret. They were known as the Cristãos Novos, New Christians, although they were never seen as true Christians by the Portuguese people. The Jewish community of Belmonte chose a radical solution, vanishing from any social life and practicing their faith in a secret isolated comunity. Known as the Marranos, they have survived until today by the practice of intermarriage and few cultural contact with the outside world. Only recently they have established contact with the international Jewish community, which has brought a lot of attention to this mountainous town of central Portugal.

Today, there are around 1000 jews in Portugal.

World War II

A new chapter of Jews in Portugal was marked by World War II. The Portuguese dictatorship of Salazar managed to maintain neutrality in World War II. Although kept under considerable pressure by the Nazis and the allies, Portugal honored long standing treaties with England dating from 1373 (Anglo-Portuguese Alliance) and 1386 (Treaty of Windsor) by giving a base in the Azors to the allies and mantaining neutrality. Even while under close German watch, Lisbon became a safe haven to Jews from all over Europe. At the outbreak of World War II, Jewish refugees from Central Europe were granted "resident" status. After the German invasion of France, Portugal adopted a liberal visa policy - see Aristides de Sousa Mendes - allowing thousands of Jewish refugees to enter the country. As the war progressed, Portugal gave entry visas to those coming via rescue operations, on the condition that Portugal would only be used as a transit point. Portugal also joined other neutral countries in the efforts made to save Hungarian Jewry. More than 100,000 Jews and refugees were able to flee Nazi Germany into freedom via Lisbon. By the early 1940s, there were hundreds of thousands of Jews arriving in Lisbon and leaving weeks later, to the United States.(source???) Of those, only a minority decided to stay in Portugal. All of Portugal’s Jews and Jewish refugees living there survived the war.

Today

Main article: Spanish and Portuguese Jews

As of today, Jews enjoy a peaceful life in Portugal. There are three synagogues in the country, in Lisbon, Porto and Belmonte, and several places were the Hebrew community meets. There are a series of kosher products being produced in Portugal, most notably, wine.

It is hard to say how many Jews live in Portugal as of 2006. The Portuguese census estimates a Jewish population of 5000 individuals. CIA's World Fact Book refers a smaller number of a thousand Jews, mainly central European Holocaust survivors. But the Marranos, though, may represent the remainder.

Some Portuguese personalities are known Jews or descendants of Jews, most notably Esther Mucznik (leader of the Israelite Community of Lisbon), the award winning photographer Daniel Blaufuks, screen actress Daniela Ruah, and the former President of the Republic Jorge Sampaio, whose grandmother was a Moroccan Jew of Portuguese-Jewish origin (although he does not consider himself Jewish).

Famous Jews

Main article: List of Iberian Jews

Famous Jews from Portugal:

• Abraham Zacuto
• Abraham Usque
• António José da Silva
• António Ribeiro Sanches
• Garcia de Orta
• Gracia Mendes Nasi
• Isaac Abrabanel
• Judah Leon Abravanel
• Samuel Usque
• Artur Carlos de Barros Basto

See also

• Judeo-Portuguese